Origins of the Surnames of England

Early English settlements were small. Dwellers were able to use just a personal name or a nickname in order to distinguish themselves from each other. As settlements grew, and populations increased, the need to identify people further became apparent. James the baker, John from Preston and Elizabeth of the wood became ways of identifying people. The Norman barons introduced surnames following the 1066 invasion, and their use became more common practice. By 1400 most families had adopted a surname which was hereditary.

Surnames have evolved over centuries and their origins are often defined through the following seven types of surnames.

• Occupational names (see Occupational Names below)
• Patronymic and matronymic names (see Baptismal Names below)
• Characteristic names (see Nicknames below)
• Place names (see Local Names below)
• Geographical feature names (see Local Names below)
• Estate names (see Local Names below)
• Patronage names (see Occupational Names below)

Local Names

These names derive from those of the places people originally associated themselves with. These could be geographical places such as countries, towns and hamlets such as French, Preston and Burton. Those descended from landowners may have a geographical name taken from the name of the estate, holding, castle or manor. The Windsor surname is an example of this. Migrants were named after the places they left. Other names of local origin are those which derive from geographical features such as Hill, Grove and Stone.

Baptismal Names

These are often patronymic but can be matronymic (or metronymic) or ancestral. They are surnames that have come from baptismal or Christian names often without little change. In the south, this change involved suffixing the father’s name with an s. The north favoured the suffix son and would sometimes use the mother’s name. A son of Robert, for example, may have adopted the surname Roberts or Robertson.

A limited number of personal names meant that it wasn’t uncommon to use nicknames and derive a surname from its rhyming form. Basing a surname on Rob, a nickname of Robert, creates the surname Robson and the rhyming names Dobson and Hobson.

Examples of matronymic names include Emmott (from Emma), Madison (from Maud) and Marriott (from Mary).

Nicknames

These were descriptive surnames that highlighted the distinguishable features or personal characteristics of an individual, e.g. Good, Joly and White. These features and characteristics sometimes resembled the qualities of an animal or plant giving surnames like Fox, Sparrow and Oak. Nicknames could also be location names or possibly occupations.

Occupational Names

These surnames derive from an individual’s job or trade, for example Baker, Carpenter and Taylor. The prominence of local industries led to higher concentrations of specific occupational names.

Suffixes in a surname can help determine the nature of trade or occupation. The suffix “man” or “er“, for example, suggests a trade, such as Chapman (shopkeeper), whilst “smith” suggests a crafts person with a trade, such as blacksmith and sicksmith (who makes sickles). Other occupational suffixes include “maker” (e.g., Slaymaker) and “wright” (e.g., Cartwright) both indicating one of many occupations involving the making of something.

Some occupations are now less common than they once were, but the surnames have survived. Some occupational surnames haven’t survived over time.

As well as occupations and trade, surnames may also derive from rank or service. These include the offices of mediaeval society, noblemen, church officials and servants. Knight, Bachelor (a young knight) and Marshall are some of the examples of mediaeval society. Noblemen surnames include King, Duke and Earl, whilst those derived from church officials include Pope, Bishop and Abbott. Suffixes such as the possessive “s” and “man” may indicate patronage or a servant to another person, such as Parsons and Hartman, the friend or servant of Hart.

Variations

It is not uncommon for the origins of the same surname to vary, which makes it difficult to establish the precise derivation. A Vickers surname, for example, may derive through the patronymic meaning “son of a vicar”, or the occupational meaning indicating the servant of a vicar or someone called Vicker.

Either way, it is worth noting that the spelling used is “Vickers” and not “Vicars“. As standardised spellings did not exist for many centuries, people spelt phonetically, and surname spelling variations were sometimes the result of different dialects. For example, some members of the Elderfield family, listed on this website, have an alternative spelling for their last name in parish records, such as Elderfeld.